VISUALIZING MENTAL MAPS OF SAN FRANCISCO

groups.ischool.berkeley.edu/mentalmapsRachelle Annechino

Yo-Shang Cheng

advised by Ray Larson

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

“An atlas may represent many places in the same way or the same place in many ways, and it is in the

myriad of descriptions that the maps begin to approximate the rich complexity of the place, of a

place, of any place.” - Rebecca Solnit

WHAT?

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

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MENTAL MAPS

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

WHY?

• Every map has a perspective, every map is “wrong”

• Neighborhoods contribute to a sense of belonging/alienation

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

PROCESS

• Literature Review

• Interviews

• Synthesis

• Visualizations

• Atlas

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

• semi-structured interviews

• mapping exercises

• evolving process

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

SAMPLING

• 22 interviews

• ages 26-70

• 57 maps sketched

• 18 neighborhoods

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

SKETCH MAPS

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

THEMES

• Orientation

• Corridors

• Barriers

• Boundaries

• Stories

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

DATA AND TOOLS

• Shape!les: sfgov.org, USGS, census, Zillow

• Other: Craigslist, Wikipedia, Burrito Justice

• Tools: ArcGIS, Adobe Illustrator, Processing, Polymaps/jQuery

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

“I don't fully know how the peninsula always lays out in cardinal directions.” - Bernadette

“I know which streets go in what direction. If I don't know exactly what street it is… when I cross a street,

I’m able to orient myself based on what I'm perpendicular to or parallel to.” - Mary

ORIENTATION

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

ORIENTATION

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

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ORIENTATION

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

"I think of San Francisco as being a bunch of main streets in small towns, all smushed next to each

other." - Petr

“There's big residential areas, like the Outer Richmond and Outer Sunset where I don't know

them because I kind of feel like I never have a reason to go there. They're kind of worse than the suburbs in

terms of being monotonic.” - Evan

CORRIDORS

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

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CORRIDORS

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

“You don't go anywhere past that because there's a hill over here, there's a highway here and the roads

kind of end. Why would you go past a divider like that?... the hills and the highway create a barrier.”

- Petr

“There's a hill up into the Haight... It's not that far away, but I don't go there and I think of it as distant,

even though it's not.” - Dan

BARRIERS

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

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BARRIERS

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

“It's one of those interesting things, unless you live directly on Haight Street, depending on the apartments available, you'll have one

apartment in this neighborhood that will have different Craigslist postings calling it "ve different neighborhoods because they're trying

to appeal to different demographics of people.” - Jerrold

“I don't have a good name for what's right across there, 'cause I don't think it's the Castro yet. But it's also not the Mission yet, but it's also not

Duboce Triangle. And so I have no idea, like those two blocks down there, I don't know if they have a name.” - Angelica

BOUNDARIES

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

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BOUNDARIES

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

BOUNDARIES

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

BOUNDARIES

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

STORIES

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

GAME

• Dataplay

• Worrying about being “right”

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

FUTURE WORK• Restaurants

• Fog

• Micro-neighborhoods

• Paths

• The Wiggle

• Transportation Choices

• Class/socioeconomic issues

• Dioramas

• Just to name a few, given time and data

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

CONCLUSIONS

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1955

Visualizing Mental Maps of San Francisco Rachelle Annechino + Yo-Shang Cheng

groups.ischool.berkeley.edu/mentalmaps

THANKS

QUESTIONS?

to Ray Larson, Nancy Van House, Jenna Burrell and Darin Jensen for their feedback and support

and to you for coming and listening